Mergers and Acquisitions, Mergers and Acquisitions

M&A: Microsoft Partner Buys Azure Cloud Consulting Firm

Vital Network Solutions, and IT service provider in Yorkshire, England, has acquired rival Octari Ltd., a Leeds-based Microsoft Gold Certified Partner with Azure cloud platform expertise.

Vital and Octari both specialize in IT support, business continuity, Microsoft infrastructure and cloud services for small to midsize businesses across Yorkshire and the UK, the companies said. Financial terms for the deal were not disclosed.

Vital works closely with Microsoft, holding a Small & MidMarket Cloud Solutions (SMCS) competency. The company's training program has twice won the Small Business Apprentice of the Year Award for the Yorkshire and the Humber Region, as well as being named one of the UK's top 10 Apprentice Employers, the company says.

Octari, meanwhile, has been a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner since 2005. The company has aggressively educated customers about the value of such solutions as virtualization and private cloud; remote desktops and VDI; hosted infrastructure; and unified communications.

2016 Mergers, Acquisitions: VARs, MSPs, CSPs

ChannelE2E has reached out to Vital Network Solutions for more details about the deal. We hope to pinpoint when the buyout discussions started, what drove the deal, and key priorities for the first few months of the combined company.

This is the third M&A deal involving an IT service provider that we've spotted since the New Year. Other deals have included:

ChannelE2E will update this article if Vital is available for an interview.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.